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Monday, May 24, 2010

Argentina 5 - 0 Canada - Player Ratings

Player ratings sent in by Dave P.

With all the controversy on who is going to the world cup and who is not going, we finally get to see some of the players who are officially representing us play. No Messi, Samuel, Demichelis, and Milito (All resting). A 5-0 victory over Canada, a decent win considering how weak Canada is, they had one chance the entire game and I think we possessed the ball for about 80% of the time. They barely pressured our back 4 and midfield and were content in sitting back and defending. There really was no test for our defenders and Romero was only needed once. In the first half we held possession all the time which carried over into the second half, we were a little wasteful with some chances and some of our crosses were off but Maxi's two goals were scored because of Jonas and Tevez's immense work rate. In the second half the same continued however this time Higuain was working much much harder, and set up Tevez's goal. Here are the ratings:

Romero 6: Literally was only needed once the entire game, but when he was needed he was there to save Burdisso's mistake clearance

Heinze 6: Not tested defensively the entire game, however, he did get forward well and combined well with Di Maria. Passionate and worked hard until he was subbed out.

Otamendi 5: Not tested, did everything he needed to do, missed a header early on but other than that just passed the ball around fine.

Burdisso 5: Same as Otamendi, had one slip up but other than that cannot really rate him because never was tested defensively

Jonas 7: Every game he seems to never go unnoticed in a positive manner. He is everywhere all game pushing down the right side from corner flag to corner flag. Good moves in the attack and high pressure all game amazing work rate.

Mascherano 6: Worked hard all game and really was never worked to hard in the defense but did break up a lot of passes and had a hard work rate all game.

Maxi 7.5: Early on combined well with Jonas and Tevez, beginning to find his form again worked hard down the line until he came off at halftime injured. But before he got hurt he did the damage in scoring a beautiful free kick and topping off the counter attack after a clever Tevez pass. I hope he is okay, because if he is in this form he can be dangerous like he was in 2006

Di Maria 6.5: Great finish by Di Maria, outside of the left into the upper right which came out of no where. This is his explosiveness as usual, he can do something amazing in the blink of an eye. He played well pushing forward and pressed the Canada defense all game. His crosses and corners were a little off today which are usually right on the money.

Pastore 6: Excited to see Pastore start, and early on he was linking up well with Tevez and Di Maria, the much needed link between the midfield and forwards was working well. However, as the game went on he got quiet and began to not play his good balls. Good move to get a foul called which allowed for Maxi's goal. And good pressure but expected a little more from him.

Higuain 5: Terrible start to the match by El Pipita, had 0 touches on the ball in the first 22 minutes, he was running hard but not close enough to Tevez when he needed to combine. He was a part of the lighting quick counter attack in the first half which got Tevez in to pass it off to Maxi, but a disappointing first half. The second half was completely different for El Pipita, he was working and running harder pushing more outside to try and cut i n. He had 2 good chances however both were put wide, but he did press hard which won him a ball which he unselfishly laid off to Tevez to score our 4th. Great speed displayed as well, just work on the finishing.

Tevez 8: Man of the match, Tevez continuing his from from Man City. He hustled all over the place all game until he got subbed out in the 70th min. He looked to take on defenders and did so well. Set up Maxi for his second goal, and scored his finish well by pressing and then getting into position to recieve Higuain's pass. Also, because of his pressure Canada passed the ball to Di Maria to score his goal. What work horse, great game by Carlitos in the absence of Messi.

Subs:

Veron 5: Came on at half time and played just behind Pastore, did well was great in possession and played some pretty good long balls, very calming feel whenever he is on the ball.

Bolatti N/A: in for Mascherano 59min: Did not really have to do much. Did not see much a difference in the midfield once Masch was subbed out, good work by Bolatti.

Clemente N/A: in for Heinze 59 min: Really was not tested and did not make any mistakes in his 30 mins.

Palermo N/A: in for Higuain 69 min: No impact.

Aguero 6 in for Tevez 70 min: Wow in for 3 seconds and beats the defender sideways and very powerful shot for the 5th goal. Other than the goal Aguero ran hard.

Garce in for Pastore 74 min: N/A

It was good to see our team play and have a forceful win without Messi, even-though Canada is a poor quality football team. Get excited for the World Cup its coming close and anything can happen in South Africa. I can't wait...I will be in Japan during the first 2 group stage matches and will most likely not have access to write player ratings but I will be watching and routing them on from Tokyo. I hope we can show the world our talent and I believe in our team and Maradona, we worked very hard all game today, great work rate.

It's hard to make conclusion from this friendly match due to opponent quality. Agree with Dave, the positive side is the players looks motivated, hard workers type. Even against 63rd ranking, they show desire to win. They still have time to build solid team. Team work is priorities.

please do me the honor guys go over to argentina world cup blog and see the insanity being writen about veron imtalking seriuosly ill shit being said there going on like veron has cost us the final and trying to make the canada game about veron its beyond comprehention its clearly very sick people posting over there that comunity is a bunch of messed up retards veron was some terrable thing that came on and ruined everything its sick shit there saying over there

how careless was this defense again with giving away the ball deep in their own end with totally random misplaced passes, hell one time even they lost the ball inside the 18....against any of the teams in SA surely mistakes like these, preventable ones, will be punished. will be good to get back samuel & demichelis in the center.

And let's be honest, Palermo was a donkey out there. It's way too charitable to say N/A for him. I mean, if you have 20 minutes to do something and you don't, you deserve a rating, and a poor one at that. Waste of space.

If you thought Higuain did not play well rewatch the game...take a look at his movement. Two of the goals came off plays he initiated. Forwards have many more subtle contributions than simply scoring goals.

never thought Higuain played bad, just lower ratings because of the how weak our opponent was. If we did this against a stronger team the ratings would be a lot higher, our team was never really pressed anywhere behind our own half.

Dan said,The team played well. I thought Higuain, Tevez, DiMaria all played well. The defense did very well also. Jonas was a warrior as usual. We will see how they gel over the next two weeks. Also, I cannot see keeping Tevez out of the lineup. He is physical which will come in handy against Nigeria. My guess is we will be playing a 3-3-4 with either Jonas moving to defense and Otamendi sitting out or Veron sitting out.

By the way, it does not matter who the opponent was. Most of these guys play in MLS or EPL. It is important that our players get used to each other on the pitch. I wish Messi would have played but it doesn't matter. Lets wait for him to play in WC. Vamos Campeon.

I am loving the Veron & Pastore performance. Hopefully, these guys can get better acquainted with Messi and the other forwards. Tevez and Guiterrez were relentless tonight. DiMaria is a time bomb with two legs. I'm going to be wrecked at work in the morning, but it worth seeing the entire match w/o interruption.

GK:romeroDF:jonas-demis-samuel-heinzeBased on C-league final, demis struggled a bit but i think he has the best 'salida' or handling of the ball among defenders.MF: Maxi/Pastore-Mascherano-Di MairDepending on how agressive you want to be, choose between Maxi or PasatoreFW: Tevez-Messi-HiguainMessi is unquestionable. Tevez is good especially at pressuring opponents defense and his limitless stamina and fighting spirit. Even though Higuain missed some chances today, I liked his game. He has a strong upper body along with a great speed.

SubsVeron: he should only come in when our team is leading by some margin. his horizontal/backward passing along with occasional long ball for counter-attach should be good for maintaining the lead and keeping possession.Milito and Aguero: They could replace Tevez and Higuain depending on fitness, injury, or card accumulation. We won't miss a bit.Palermo: He should NEVER, EVER step on the field. He's too slow, no footwork whatsoever, and slows the game down for others. Couldn't belive people were chanting his name. Maybe the whole Boca fans were leading the chant or something.

The rest of the subs (2 GK, Bolatti, Burdisso, Otamendi, Garce, Clemente) won't change the game result whether they come in or not.

BTW, if we win the 1st 2 games by wide margin, and are guaranteed of 1st place, why not try some crazy formation against Greece for the last game of the group stage?

a good effort from the guys but reality is its canada and a friendly.i wish tevez could be played in cent mid, this guy has all the qualaties for one and it would allow a hig n milito show upfront.veron is simply not good enough, yes a few good balls but this w,c will not be won by long balls as defenders at this level can head it will be won by people like de maria or messi, players who can get in behind the defence.

well done argentina..i watched the match on justintv last night..and i thought we played pretty well..we were fast, aggressive and our passing was good...maxi rodriguez played well to get his two goals..di maria was awesome...but i think tevez was simply outstanding..he went hard at the ball and was relentless...our midfield did a good job as well with pastore and jonas playing doggedly...veron came in n did his part well too..good goal by aguero..higuain was unlucky not to have scored...

deenders were not tested at all...we need to play against a stronger team to give a solid test for our defenders and our goalkeeper Romero..

I think it was a pretty good display against a weak team. Was it Canada B team? I don't really know Canada that much, but they looked really bad.

My rating:

Romero 6.5: Just one dangerous moment for Canada, but Romero was quick to block the ball.

Burdisso 7: Make it look easy. For me he should challenge Demichelis for the starting line up.

Otamendi 6.5: The defense line did a good job against a very weak team.

Heinze 7: making a good decision in going forward more often than usual. A little slow, but was confident.

Gutierrez 7.5: If he changed his position to right back, I'm sure he'll challenge the best 3 right back (Maicon, Alves, and Ramos) for the best right back in the world. Amazing work rate and good defense.

Mascherano 7.5: Very secured. Like a little general.

Maxi 8.5: 2 goals. Maxi played like Maxi of 2006 last night. Often attack from deep. We need someone like that. Lucho used to be good at that, but now it's Maxi's role.

Pastore 6.5: Having fun out there, but wasn't really involved in anything. It's just he enjoyed to be out there.

Di Maria 9: I'm sure the man of the match, Di Maria did save some energy and was "unwilling" to show his best moves. He saved the best for the WC, but still he got 9 for his goal, his crosses and his passing. He should have had 2 assists and 2 goals in the match. I like his corner. His corner is at least the second best in Argentina.

Tevez 8: Amazing work rate, but lack of killer instinct. He needs to improve on his killer instinct.

Higuain 6.5: Great speed. Should have scored 2, but was unselfish in Tevez goal. He was just unlucky tonight. One of the serious candidates of WC top scorers!

Subs:

Veron 7.5: the real general. His passing was often dangerous.

Bolatti 6.5: Didn't make too many mistakes. I like his height. That could be our x factor. We need that.

Clemente 6: Too defensive. He should have come up more as Canada is too weak.

Aguero 8: For me what he did in 3 seconds looked as good as what Tevez did in 70 minutes.

Palermo 5: Don't expect any great skill or any special movements from Palermo. He just offers us one thing: desire to prove! He's got heart.... believe me.

Garce: not enough time.

It wasn't 3-4-3 as predicted. It was still 4-2-2-2. I hope Messi is OK.

Not easy to give a verdict on the team after a game against such an incredibly weak team. BUT I am extremely happy anyway that MAXI scored two goals and played well in the first half. He is a class act and should always be a part of our squad. This was a great evidence for all of you who has been saying he’s been rubbish the last year. He has been playing well for Liverpool and is exactly the same player now as he was 4 years ago. We need him.Jonas as a right back witn Maxi as the right midfielder is a good idea. I have nothing against Jonas IF he is used as a right back, although I would of course prefer Zanetti in this position.Tevez was the man of the match and it was a joy to see him play.Pastore….I just have to say that it’s something with this kid that gives me so high hopes for the future. I really like him. Not everything he does is right, but he is a joy to watch, and he will become a really great player. I would love it if he played in stead of Veron, but of course I know it’s not gonna happen.Di Maria looked good, I just pray he can learn when to shoot and when to dribble and pass. I have a feeling he will be our biggest star in the world cup.

BUT just remember this was a victory against a poor, poor team. Nice for the team to get some confidence and good for the moral of he team to win. But the world cup games will be a completely differrent matter.

The tenacity and physical qualities of Tevez can be best utilized in a central midfield (CM) position. He has the strength and skill to win tackles, dribble past defenders and produce killer passes. If we can utilize Tevez in CM, we may not miss Banega much. ( I believe that Banega is currently the best argentine CM having a good balance of defending,attacking and passing skills)

Though not an equal replacement for Zanetti, I think Jonas is the best makeshift right back among our available options

But i still fear that when it comes to facing very good teams like England and Spain, the pressure will be felt on our defense in the absence of Zanetti and Cambiasso, I am afraid that the mediocrity of Heinze and the senility of veron will be exposed in these games

I see that you know all the players very well and you observed them with careful detail. I agree that the abscence of Zanetti and Cambiasso did make a lot of difference. Maradona made a mistake when he decided not to choose them for the main team in the world cup. Anyways, I hope Argentina will win. Even though I was not born there, I would like to see them win, because I have been in the country, I know what it means to them, and also because I fell in love with BA. When i was looking to rent furnished apartments buenos aires I met wonderful people who helped me. I think they are the nicest and warmest people in South America. They deserve the cup!Brit